Supposition and the Imaginative Realm: A Philosophical Inquiry

159 Pages·2019·6.957 MB·English

by  Margherita Arcangeli

Supposition and the Imaginative Realm
Supposition is frequently invoked in many fields within philosophy, including
aesthetics, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and epistemology.
However,thereisastrikinglackofconsensusaboutthenatureofsupposition.
What is supposition? Is supposition a sui generis type of mental state or is it
reducible to some other type of mental state?
These are the main questions Margherita Arcangeli explores in this book.
She examines the characteristic features of supposition, along the dimensions
of phenomenology and emotionality, among others, in a journey through the
imaginative realm. An informed answer to the question “What is supposi-
tion?” must involve an analysis of imagination, since supposition is so often
defined in opposition to the latter. She assesses rival explanations of supposi-
tion putting forward a novel view, according to which the proper way of
seeing supposition is as a primitive type of imaginative state.
Supposition and the Imaginative Realm: A Philosophical Inquiry will be of
great interest to students of philosophy of psychology, aesthetics, philosophy
of mind, philosophyof science and epistemology.
Margherita Arcangeli is an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Research
Fellow at the Department of Philosophy at the Humboldt-Universität zu
Berlin. She istheauthorofseveral articleson imagination and other topics in
philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and aesthetics, among which are
thought experiments, memory and the sublime.
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Supposition and the Imaginative
Realm
A Philosophical Inquiry
Margherita Arcangeli
Firstpublished2019
byRoutledge
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©2019MargheritaArcangeli
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Names:Arcangeli,Margherita,author.
Title:Suppositionandtheimaginativerealm:aphilosophicalinquiry/
MargheritaArcangeli.
Description:1[edition].|NewYork:Routledge,2018.|
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2018030865|
ISBN9781138223042(hardback:alk.paper)|
ISBN9781315405940(e-book)
Subjects:LCSH:Hypothesis.|Imagination(Philosophy)
Classification:LCCB105.I49A732018|DDC167--dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2018030865
ISBN:978-1-138-22304-2(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-315-40594-0(ebk)
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To my mother, from whom I learnt to walk in the imaginative
realm.
To Nicolò and Andrea, with whom I still venture into its unexplored
territories.
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introducing supposition: To imagine or not to imagine, that
is the question 1
PARTI
The Facets Of Supposition 11
1 Phenomenology 13
1.1 The phenomenology claim 13
1.2 A rough taxonomy of the phenomenological realm 14
1.3 Different phenomenology claims 17
1.4 Summary 26
2 Emotionality 31
2.1 The Emotionality Claim 31
2.2 The strong interpretation of EC 32
2.3 The weak interpretation of EC 34
2.4 Emotional supposition and an indirect reading of EC 38
2.5 An output reading of EC 41
2.6 Summary 45
3 Participation 49
3.1 The Participation Claim 49
3.2 Supposition, imagination and their constraints 51
3.3 Different readings of the Participation Claim 55
3.4 Summary 62
viii Contents
4 Features proper to supposition 66
4.1 Introduction 66
4.2 Propositionality 68
4.3 Inferentiality 70
4.4 The relationship with will and truth 75
4.5 Summary 77
PARTII
The nature of supposition 83
5 Supposition as non-imaginative 85
5.1 Introduction 85
5.2 Supposition and entertainment 86
5.3 Supposition and the doxastic domain 95
5.4 Primitivism and deflationism 102
6 Supposition as imaginative 106
6.1 Introduction 106
6.2 Cognitivism 106
6.3 Imaginative primitivism 115
Supposition and the imaginative realm: Remapping the territory 131
References 136
Index 143
Acknowledgements
My philosophical interest in the imaginative realm and supposition was born
during my doctoral studies. In 2016, I decided to think afresh about these
issues and write a book putting supposition under the spotlight. My deepest
gratitude goes to Tony Bruce and Adam Johnson for having believed in my
project and having made it possible. I would also like to thank the Alexander
von Humboldt Foundation for a Postdoctoral Researcher Fellowship, which
financially supported me during the completion of this work.
This book would not have been possible without the support of many
people.MyintellectualdebtisduetoJérômeDokic,whofirstdisclosedtome
the philosophical side of the imaginative realm and, since then, is an invalu-
able interlocutor, always encouraging and helpful. I owe a very important
debt to Dimitri Coelho Mollo and Michael T. Stuart for having engaged
closely with earlier versions of the manuscript; without their valuable feed-
back and constructive suggestions this work would be considerably weaker.
Special thanks go to anonymous referees for compelling criticisms and
inspiring comments. I am also very grateful to many of the philosophers I
have interacted with at a number of conferences and events, as well as via
email correspondence. In particular my thanks go to Gregory Currie, Julien
Deonna, Steve Humbert Droz, Pascal Engel, Amy Kind, Uriah Kriegel,
Andrea Lailach-Hennrich, Sean Landis, Peter Langland-Hassan, Julia Lang-
kau, Aaron Meskin, Kevin Mulligan, Paul Noordhof, Roy Sorensen, Kath-
leen Stock, Daniela Tagliafico, and Fabrice Teroni. My gratitude extends to
Fabian Dorsch, who unexpectedly died when I was working on the manu-
script, but whose supportive attitude andstimulating discussions arestill alive
in my mind.
Finally,wordsalonecannotexpressthethanksIowetowhoeverIbothered
with imaginative exercises and Enzo Fabio, Fabrizio, Giulia, Ilaria, Michela,
Silvia, Silvia, Tania, Valerio, my Paris family and my S. Rocco family (Ste-
fano and Dario included), who have always been there with their assistance,
understanding and endless love.